Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct vs o4-mini
Side-by-side comparison across metrics, pricing, and overall score — every value traced to a source.
Verdict: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct ranks highest overall (#16) with a score of 21.1.
The best choice still depends on which metrics matter for your workload — per-metric winners are marked below.
What the numbers hide
Computed from the published values below — no estimates, no generated claims.
Fragile verdict
The overall winner flips to o4-mini if Max Output Tokens is weighted at 15% (it counts for 6% today). If max output tokens drives your decision, the ranking above may not be your ranking.
Fragile verdict
The overall winner flips to o4-mini if Context Window is weighted at 5% (it counts for 18% today). If context window drives your decision, the ranking above may not be your ranking.
Real tradeoff
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct clearly beats o4-mini on Context Window but clearly loses on Max Output Tokens — this pair is a priorities question, not a quality question.
What nobody reports
SWE-Bench Pro Score (1 of 2 missing) · Tokens per Wh (efficiency) (1 of 2 missing) · Input Price (1 of 2 missing) — the questions worth asking vendors directly.
AI hot take
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| Metric | Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta | o4-miniOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Overall OptiSift Score | 21.1#16 | 20.4#17 |
| Input Price | — | $1.1 |
| Output Price | — | $4.4 |
| Cache Read Price | — | $0.28 |
| Context Window | 1M | 200K |
| Max Output Tokens | 16K | 100K |
| SWE-Bench Pro Score | 5.24% | — |
| Tool Calling | Yes | Yes |
| Extended Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tokens per Wh (efficiency) | 7,435 | — |